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The Traitor in the Tunnel Y. S. Lee

Everyone's favorite Victorian spy is back!

Mary's now a full-fledged member of the agency. She thinks her first assignment is a bit well... boring. She's posing as a housemaid in Buckingham Palace because someone is stealing random trinkets from the Blue Room.

BUT! It quickly heats up-- a known rogue was murdered in a Limehouse opium den, right in front of the crown prince. They immediately arrested a Chinese opium addict. Mary convinces the agency to let her stay on at the palace to see if the man was actually guilty or arrested solely because he was Chinese. She doesn't tell them her real interest in the case-- he has the same name as her long-missing, presumed-dead father.

AND! To make matters even more confusing, James is back on the scene, working on the sewers under the palace.

I love Mary and her secrets and double life. I loooooooooooooooooooove the chemistry between her and James.

I initially thought this would be a series, and it wraps up deliciously, with all the loose ends tied but with the promise of new adventure on the horizon. BUT! We're so lucky-- there will be more.

I continue to adore the way Lee writes historical fiction. She paints her Victorian world so well and with so much detail (her description of the sewers is fantastic) but it never overwhelms or detracts from the actual story. I also really liked her portrait of Queen Victoria-- fun and stern mother with her family, but proper and commanding Queen when needed. Lee gives her depth and complexity, even though she's a minor character that doesn't get much page-time.

This is a series that just gets better and better. The mystery isn't as exciting in this one, but Mary's personal journey is.

Book Provided by... my local library

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THE BODY AT THE TOWER (THE AGENCY, BOOK 2), by Y.S. Lee (Candlewick 2010). Mary Quinn is back in this sequel to THE AGENCY: A SPY IN THE HOUSE. This time, she's disguised as a 12 year-old errand boy at the Palace of Westminster construction site to uncover the truth behind the fall of a bricklayer from atop St. Stephen's Tower. Along the way, she discovers plots within plots and finds herself having to negotiate who and what she is and wants to be...

THE AGENCY: THE BODY IN THE TOWER is another finely-wrought historical mystery, bringing to life the seamier side of a richly-imagined Victorian London. Readers will eagerly anticipate Book 3.

The Agency 1: A Spy in the House Y.S. Lee

Immediately after being sentenced to the gallows at the age of 12, Mary Lang is spirited away by the warden where she ends up at Miss Scrimshaw's Academy for girls. In Victorian London, options for women are limited, and Miss Scrimshaw's tries to give girls that best chance they have to make their own way.

So, five years later, when Mary (who has changed her last name to Quinn, as Mary Lang is still a wanted criminal) isn't satisfied with any of the options available to her, she feels guilty and selfish-- Miss Scrimshaw's has given her everything-- who is she to say that it isn't enough?

But Miss Scrimshaw's Academy has one more ace up its sleeve-- The Agency. The Agency are spies for hire. Taking full advantage of women's role in society, they're allowed to go places and overhear things men aren't.

Mary's first job is to pose as a lady's companion in the house of a man suspected of smuggling Indian goods. But, nothing is as it seems. Mary's not the only person looking into Thorold's financial dealings. The daughter has her own thing going. The deeper Mary gets in the case, the darker and more dangerous she gets and the closer she comes to the really big secrets of her past (and no, not the fact that she's an escaped convict sentenced to hang.)

First off, OMG love. I CANNOT wait until The Agency 2: The Body at the Tower comes out in August.

I really liked how the female characters are strong and biting against societal conformities while still seeming historically accurate-- they don't openly rebel, they know their place, but find ways around the rules.

I also loved James, the engineer who's also digging around in the Thorold case in order to save his brother from a disastrous match.

Craft-wise, I loved the way that the omniscient third-person narrator changes focus between Mary and James, to further flesh out and add to the mystery and action of the puzzle. Also, this works as a stand-alone novel. I want to read the next one because I love the premise and Mary, not because it was a 335-page lead-up to a sucker-punch of a cliffhanger.

Overall, really super awesome. The plot took a million little twists and turns that kept me on the edge of my seat and wanting more, more, more. It kept me up waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay past bedtime.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Jacket description:
"Orphan Mary Quinn lives on the edge. Sentenced as a thief at the age of twelve, she's rescued from the gallows by a woman posing as a prison warden. In her new home, Miss Scrimshaw's Academy for Girls, Mary acquires a singular education, fine manners, and a surprising opportunity. The school is a cover for the Agency-an elite, top secret corps of female investigators with a reputation for results-and at seventeen, Mary's about to join their ranks.


With London all but paralyzed by a noxious heat wave, Mary must work fast in the guise of a lady's companion to infiltrate a rich merchant's home with hopes of tracing his missing cargo ships. But the Thorold household is full of dangerous secrets, and people are not what they seem-least of all to Mary."

Do you remember last week when I wrote about how in love with The Luxe series I was and how much I was going to miss it? Well I've found my replacement and I think it just may be better! From page 1 I was sucked into Mary's world of undercover investigation in 19th century London and was quickly flipping pages to see what scrap she got herself into next. I loved that she was a daring girl, always wanting to take risks and refusing to sit back and wait when there was an investigation to conduct.

Mary isn't perfect at her job, but she learns quickly what to do and what not to do, while almost being caught countless times, forming a bit of a crush on a forbidden man, and entrancing this reader the whole way through. I have a feeling her stubbornness and impulsive nature will be following her into future books.

Author Y.S. Lee is certainly talented in character writing, as well as creating a brilliantly addictive plot filled with twists and turns, as well as high fashion, old money, and handsome gentlemen. For a first novel I'm extremely impressed. If you're a fan of The Luxe or just a lover of good mysteries or historical fiction, this is a fantastic choice. Great writing, likable main character, and a truly enjoyable overall story. Truly an intelligent novel.  I can't wait for the next book in the series!


Overall rating: 4 out of 5
The only reason I'm rating this with a 4, rather than a 5 is that I felt it was a bit long and wordy in areas. Kid lit authors seem to be getting lengthier in their books lately and I feel it a little unnecessary in a lot of cases, this being one of them. Still a fabulous book, which I recommend wholeheartedly and is already on my Cybils 2010 radar. 

The Agency: Spy in the House
Y.S. Lee
352 pages
Young Adult
Candlewick
9780763640675
March 2010
Review copy received from publisher


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